24 hours in Sai Gon..... Joanna, a Rebuff, and drinking in the street again

12:15

There is a French-speaking couple living in the room next to me (I prefer to have to the top floor to myself ;-).... they are coming home NOW and they are arguing loudly...... and they're slamming doors.....

1:00 ...that's 11:00 am in Vancouver.....

2:15.....


3:30
I've done more sink laundry, completed my Vietnamese lesson for the day, drunk half a bottle of wine....... it's 1:30 pm in Vancouver ....  perfect time to call Grandma..... and she's even in a good mood ;-)

5:00
NO, sleep is simply not possible....

but dozing is ....

6:00

7:30 on my terrace...the sun is UP.... and I've been WARMER than I've been in the last 7 weeks....NO MORE cold feet...... I LOVE IT !

11:00
I can't wake up..... no wonder, it's 9 pm in Vancouver....
but it's almost time to go and meet Joanna.... of course this is the time when it starts raining...

11:30
di!

just a regular park in Sai Gon.... but it feels like an enchanted forest ;-)

YES, that is an outdoor Gym ;-)

At the SaiGon Post Office, Joanna picked up two young Vietnamese trying to perfect their English

The first stop is Saigon Bookstreet (Joanna used to be a university librarian).... the street is nothing original, it's more of a tourist thing than something real....

Joanna wants to go to Tomatito .... she believes that the woman she met on the bus somewhere is the owner here.... but NO...that woman used to be a cook here .... GREAT Aperol Spritz but horribly expensive at 220k.... bearable bocarones...

5 drinks and 1 tapa and I'm out US$ 50..... I'm not letting Joanna pick restaurants ever again !

17:30
The clouds open and it POURS.... amazing how that downpour chills and refreshes the air out there..... all of a sudden it's cooler out there than in my air-conditioned room !

18:00 WTF..... was that ?.... I had made it clear that I didn't want to intrude and that I simply would have liked to see Chuong again..... at this time I feel like I imposed or asked a culturally inappropriate question... I even suspect that the smiles were superficial...... right now I am offended but hopefully tomorrow it will make more sense.

So instead of having dinner with Chuong & Trang, I eat Bun Cha, as originally planned....

I was planning to go to bed, buy Huyen encourages me to drink that bottle of wine with the new father Quoc....

 ....and as usual it's great fun ..... that definitely makes up for earlier ;-)

yet another full moon over Sai Gon

20:30
Time to sleep ?